I have a sinus communication

(This isn't my mouth, my tooth had to be sawed in half, then broken, then twisted out....the result is a sinus communication in my case, WHICH my doctor didn't advise me about AT ALL)

Sinus exposure and oral-antral communication: This can occur when extracting upper molars (and in some patients, upper premolars). The maxillary sinus sits right above the roots of maxillary molars and premolars. There is a bony floor of the sinus dividing the tooth socket from the sinus itself. This bone can range from thick to thin from tooth to tooth from patient to patient. In some cases it is absent and the root is in fact in the sinus. At other times, this bone may be removed with the tooth, or may be perforated during surgical extractions. The doctor typically mentions this risk to patients, based on evaluation of radiographs showing the relationship of the tooth to the sinus. It is important to note that the sinus cavity is lined with a membrane called the Sniderian membrane, which may or may not be perforated. If this membrane is exposed after an extraction, but remains intact, a "sinus exposed" has occurred. If the membrane is perforated, however, it is a "sinus communication". These two conditions are treated differently. In the event of a sinus communication, the dentist may decide to let it heal on its own or may need to surgically obtain primary closure--depending on the size of the exposure as well as the likelihood of the patient to heal. In both cases, a resorbable material called "gelfoam" is typically placed in the extraction site to promote clotting and serve as a framework for granulation tissue to accumulate. Patients are typically provided with prescriptions for antibiotics that cover sinus bacterial flora, decongestants, as well as careful instructions to follow during the healing period.

I am learning, and so are you....

What is Shingles?

Shingles (herpes zoster) is an outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox — the varicella-zoster virus. The first sign of shingles is often burning or tingling pain, or sometimes numbness or itch, in one particular location on only one side of the body. After several days or a week, a rash of fluid-filled blisters, similar to chickenpox, appears in one area on one side of the body. Shingles pain can be mild or intense. Some people have mostly itching; some feel pain from the gentlest touch or breeze. The most common location for shingles is a band, called a dermatome, spanning one side of the trunk around the waistline. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles. Scientists think that in the original battle with the varicella-zoster virus, some of the virus particles leave the skin blisters and move into the nervous system. When the varicella-zoster virus reactivates, the virus moves back down the long nerve fibers that extend from the sensory cell bodies to the skin. The viruses multiply, the tell-tale rash erupts, and the person now has shingles.

Is there any treatment?
The severity and duration of an attack of shingles can be significantly reduced by immediate treatment with antiviral drugs, which include acyclovir, valcyclovir, or famcyclovir. Antiviral drugs may also help stave off the painful after-effects of shingles known as postherpetic neuralgia. Other treatments for postherpetic neuralgia include steroids, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and topical agents.
In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved a VZV vaccine (Zostavax) for use in people 60 and older who have had chickenpox. When the vaccine becomes more widely available, many older adults will for the first time have a means of preventing shingles. Researchers found that giving older adults the vaccine reduced the expected number of later cases of shingles by half. And in people who still got the disease despite immunization, the severity and complications of shingles were dramatically reduced. The shingles vaccine is only a preventive therapy and is not a treatment for those who already have shingles or postherpetic neuralgia.

What is the prognosis?
For most healthy people, the lesions heal, the pain subsides within 3 to 5 weeks, and the blisters leave no scars. However, shingles is a serious threat in immunosuppressed individuals — for example, those with HIV infection or who are receiving cancer treatments that can weaken their immune systems. People who receive organ transplants are also vulnerable to shingles because they are given drugs that suppress the immune system.
A person with a shingles rash can pass the virus to someone, usually a child, who has never had chickenpox, but the child will develop chickenpox, not shingles. A person with chickenpox cannot communicate shingles to someone else. Shingles comes from the virus hiding inside the person's body, not from an outside source.

A moment without context

I like to flit about the internet. Check out several news sites, pop culture sites, blog sites...whatever strikes me at the moment. The thing I indulge in is sites that have "pictures of the day/week".

The picture of this child playing chess really got me. At first I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of a young face looking so completely stressed, but suddenly I was confronted with a familiarity with his expression. Oh god here she goes again! The plate is piled high my friends and the meatballs are wobbling...this little guy playing and strategizing chess shows an emotion that I feel particularly close to in my own experience. I think I could make the allusion to academia and everyday life being much like the game of chess....it is all in the moves you make. One false move and checkmate! I have learned in the last couple of weeks that in the realm of academia there are certain egos and personalities that require stroking and adherence to their whims. I of course struggle with this mostly because this kind of environment is completely unknown to me, put me in an environment with people who are working poor, who have addictions, who are undereducated and I flourish, I understand, I navigate...the people on the hill though, I am constantly confused, frustrated and stunted. And the levels of bureacracy that exists in such a small space blows my mind and yet gives me insight into why the government never seems to get anything right or is able to communicate in a timely fashion.

So, the kid agonizing over his next move and his face contorts to reflect this...that is the inner me everyday I wake up...lately.

Now, I am still flipping through the pictures and I come across a fashion show. A particular angle of fashion where all the cameras are clustered together and focussed on the women who is wearing who ever's latest fashion. I know that Spain has made a vocal committment to not allowing anymore starved models to strut their run ways...but I wonder how feasible that is, especially when it is more than designers, producers and sponsors that are focussed on fashion runways. All those cameras, all those eyes, multiplied by readership...that kind of pressure is unavoidable.

Although I do like the framing of the picture that picks up on the crazy making of so many cameras to capture one superfluous moment.

But now I am moving on to yet another picture which ultimately breaks my heart...a child holding a gun...a girl child. So I am guilty of being privileged enough to be raised in a culture that believes and supports 'childhood' and that also here in Canada we are relatively untouched by the kind of violence that is witnessed in other countries. Of course I am still tied to those notions that women are nurturers and not warriors...on the domestic front women are warriors, but on the battle field I envision we are peacemakers. Of course I fight against all my cultural values and tried to shed the pregivens and taked for granted notions of gender and age...but I still react to the picture of an girl holding a toy gun in protest...how long before that gun becomes real?

Of course I also have to acknowledge the lack of deep context that a picture affords the viewer. This particular scene and the above scenes are selected to evoke a response and also as part of a selling feature...I know these moments are being exocitised as the other...a way to position myself against something and my values against, with very little information or insight to what is really going.

Profound Curiousity

What is your story? I am fairly sure I don't like that line, because all of a sudden I feel like I have to perform. I clearly remember the last person who asked me that question and the one and only time I asked what would you like to hear?
The truth of that event is that the truth wasn't being sought, just a facet, something colourful and strange.
The response was that the person felt that by asking a person to talk about themselves one can find out a lot by what is said. How can I argue with that? I am a person who listens so intently to what people aren't saying. Constantly I am weeding out truth's and non-truths.
How did I respond? I stammered, I stuttered, I blushed, I wrung my hands, I nervously laughed and admitted that without direction I didn't know what to say. At first I thought that indicated I was an empty person, lacking any personality, of course that was a fleeting moment of self-doubt.
The moment happened almost four years ago, maybe five, and yet the moment continues to linger in the recesses of my memory. The truth of the moment, the reality of the process I put others through, constantly asking questions, seeking stories of others, and all the time I am filled with enthusiasm and anticipation of what I am about to hear and what I have heard...even what you call mundane is exciting to me!! I love stories, I love hearing personalities and exploring identities.
Me, when I am telling, I accept I need direction, what do you want to know? Not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the long meandering tales and well, I have stories that for some are best left unheard. I guess that would be the indicator of who I am, I need a point of reference and from there I can march to whatever tune is necessary to complete the objective.
I am a story writer, not teller.